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Combination therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus: adding empagliflozin to basal insulin

Andrew Ahmann

Article Type

Case Report

Published

11 Nov 2015

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) management is complex, with few patients successfully achieving recommended glycemic targets with monotherapy, most progressing to combination therapy, and many eventually requiring insulin. Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are an emerging class of antidiabetes agents with an insulin-independent mechanism of action, making them suitable for use in combination with any other class of antidiabetes agents, including insulin. In this review the evaluates a 78-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial investigating the impact of empagliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor, as add-on to basal insulin in patients with inadequate glycemic control on basal insulin, with or without metformin and/or a sulfonylurea.

Empagliflozin: a new sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor for the treatment of type 2 diabetes

Joshua J Neumiller

Article Type

Review

Published

11 Jun 2014

Type 2 diabetes is increasing in prevalence worldwide, and hyperglycemia is often poorly controlled despite a number of therapeutic options.

Unlike previously available agents, sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors offer an insulin-independent mechanism for improving blood glucose levels, since they promote urinary glucose excretion by inhibiting glucose reabsorption in the kidney.

In this article, the author discusses empagliflozin and based on available data, it appears that this drug may be a useful option in a range of patients; however, clinical decisions will be better informed by the results of ongoing studies, in particular, a large cardiovascular outcome study (EMPA-REG OUTCOME™).